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 1. Science
 2. Scientists Solved a 1.75-Billion-Year Mystery About How Life Materialized on
    Earth


SCIENTISTS SOLVED A 1.75-BILLION-YEAR MYSTERY ABOUT HOW LIFE MATERIALIZED ON
EARTH

The secret was hiding in tiny fossils.

By Tim NewcombPublished: Jan 10, 2024 9:42 AM EST
Save Article

Ed Reschke//Getty Images

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 * Fossils preserved within ancient rock may prove that photosynthesis started
   way earlier than we thought.
 * If correctly dated to 1.75 billion years ago, the new find provides
   additional insight into early Earth ecosystems.
 * Scientists believe the study of additional fossils could yield more clues
   about the origins of life.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Researchers on a quest to understand the origins of life just learned a little
lesson about photosynthesis from 1.75 billion years ago.

In a new study published in Nature, a team of researchers claim that
microfossils found in the desert of north Australia show off the earliest known
signs of photosynthesis. And that could means a better understanding of how all
of life could have begun.

These microfossils are remnants of a type of organism called cyanobacteria,
which experts believe have been around for as long as 3.5 billion years (though
the oldest confirmed fossil examples are from about 2 billion years ago). At
some point in their evolution, some varieties of these organisms developed
thylakoids—structures within cells in which photosynthesis occurs—which may have
allowed them to contribute huge amounts of oxygen to Earth’s atmosphere through
photosynthesis in what has become known as the Great Oxidation Event.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RELATED STORY

 * Scientists Spot The Most Distant Oxygen Yet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These new findings offer up the oldest evidence of photosynthesis found to date.
The researchers claim that their discovery extends the fossil record by at least
1.2 billion years, and that these very first photosynthesizing cells appeared
roughly 1.75 billion years ago.

“[This discovery] allows the unambiguous identification of early oxygenic
photosynthesizers and a new redox proxy for probing early Earth ecosystems,” the
authors wrote in the paper, “highlighting the importance of examining the
ultrastructure of fossil cells to decipher their paleobiology and early
evolution.”

These exciting fossils were discovered in ancient rocks—located in the McDermott
Formation in northern Australia—and feature the pigment chlorophyll, which
allows organisms to absorb the sunlight during photosynthesis. The presences of
chlorophyll was enough for researchers to determine that photosynthesis had
occurred in these little compartments, which would mean that the process evolved
much earlier than was previously demonstrable.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RELATED STORY

 * Photosynthesis Only Takes One Photon

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that would likely help explain the Great Oxidation Event. Evidence in the
fossil record shows us that there was a huge jump in atmospheric oxygen levels
around 2.4 billion years ago. It was critical to the existence of life on Earth
as we know it, and while scientists aren’t sure what caused it, one theory is
that this is around the time that photosynthetic organisms evolved into being
and began to exist in large numbers. By dating fossilized cells with the
necessary components for photosynthesis to as close to that oxygen-flourishing
event as possible, researchers are able to move one step closer to understanding
the role of oxygen—and the cells helping create it—in the origins of life on
Earth.

Of course, the next step is more research. Specifically, the team intends to
examine fossil cells across the world to see just how well they match up with
this new timeline.

“We predict,” the authors wrote, “that similar ultrastructural analyses of
well-preserved microfossils might expand the geological record of oxygenic
photosynthesizers and of early, weakly oxygenated ecosystems in which complex
cells developed.”

Take a deep breath, and dive on into the science.

Tim Newcomb

Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums,
sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications,
including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs
with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker
Hatfield in Portland. 






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